Car coupler



w. KELSO CAR COUPLER June 16, 1925.

tains to make and use the same.

Patented June 16, 1925.

UNITED.iSTA

PAT NT OFFICE .WILLIA'M KELso, or .r rTsBun-en, rsNNsYLvAnIA, AssIeNoaTo THE 'MQGONWAY r & TORLEY COMPANY; or rrrrseunen, PENNSYLVANIA, Aconroan'riouorf PENNSYLVANIAF 'W'CARLCOUPLEB.

' Application filed February 7, 1923. Serial No. 617,548.

T 0 all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, WViL IAM KELso, a citizen oftheUnited: States,residing at Pittsburgh, in the: county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCarCouplers; and I dohereby declare the following to be afulh'clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it apperinvention relates to car, couplers of theMaster Car Builders type and particularly to the form known as thestandard D-coupler. While the improvements described and claimed areespecially applicable tothe D.-eoupler, it isto be understood that theyare not'solely limited 'tofacoupler of that type.'- I I l I Theprincipal object ofthe invention is to provide alock lifter for acoupler of, the D-type which is of simple form and capable of beingreadily assembled with theother parts of the mechanism, and whichbyf-its cooperative engagement with the lOCl7 llS prevented fromdropping to'an inoperative position or accidentally being driven to suchposition as the result of some heavy object striking upon itsupper end;v

The primary feature of the invention, generally stated, consists incombining with a coupler head and. a knuckle pivotally mounted thereon,an upwardly movable and rearwardly swinging lock for said knuckleadapted to be actuated by a lock lifter formed at-its lower end withaplurality of faces disposed at an angle to each other and provided witha plurality of trunnions extending into an upwardly andrearwardlyopening slot in said lock, said slot being formed with'a'bottom wall comprising a plurality of angularly disposed facesrespectively adapted to engage the said angularly disposed faces of saidlifter, one of the faces forming the bottom "of the slot, in thelockbeing inclined downwardly-toward the rear of the lock, and: one of. theangularlydisposed faces of the lifter being similarly inclined, saidinclined faces being adapted to cooperate to enable said lifter to move.to

locked position under the influence of gravity, and the other of saidfaces of said bot-.

tom wall and lifter being adapted to engage each other to limit thedownward movement of the lifter with respect to the lock.

Other features of the invention residing in special relations ofcpartsand details of elemental construction will, hereinafter appear.

In the drawings illustrating the invention applied to a Master CarBuilders stand ard D-coupler,

,Figure l is a vertical sectional view of mechanisminvolving theinvention, the lock, knuckle opener, knuckle and lock lifter be ingelevation and in locked relation.

Figure 2 is a detail side elevation of the lock lifter.

Figure 3 isaj detail rear elevation of the.

lock lifter.

In the D-coupler the knuckle is retained in coupled relation by means ofan upward 1y movable and rearwardly swinging lock. As applied to freightcars this look is usually actuated by a lock lifter member whose upperend projects through an opening in the top wall of the coupler head. Thelock is provided with an upwardly and rearwardly opening slot into whichthe lower end of the. lifter extends. posed trunnions with which thelifter is furnished at its lower end project into said slot toconstitute means for slidably and detachably connecting the lifter tothe lock.

-The lifter is operatively attached at its upper end to a suitableuncoupling rod or coupler releaserigging designed to enable the trainmanto unlock the coupler and effect an outward rotation of its knuckle froma position at the side of the car.

Oppositely dis- In normal 1 1 locked relation of the parts the lower endof the lock lifter projects rearwardly beyond the lock and standsbeneath an anti-creep lug or shoulder formed upon the interior of thecoupler head. This relation of the lower end of the lifter to theanti-creep lug uponthe-head is designed to prevent the 1 lock from.accident-ally creeping upward to unlocked position as .a result of thejars and shocks which the coupler receives when the car is in motion. Asa result of wear due to service however, the parts of the mech anism arereduced in size and become capable [of assuming relations detrimental toefiicient' operation of the device. The asso ciation in" the. D-coupleras at present constructed of a worn lock lifter with a coupler headhaving an anti-creep lug of reduced length allows the lifter to drop ofits own weight until its trunnions pass out of the guiding slot of thelock in which they normally operate. hen this happens the uncouplinglever or coupler release rigging can no longer be availed of to effectan unlocking operation of the lock and the trai'nman, if under thenecessity of unlocking the mechanism, must stand between the cars wherehe can reach the lifter and then endeavor by careful manipulation torestore the trunnions to their operative position within the slot of thelock. The trainnian is in this mannerv sometimes able to return thelifter to a position enabling the lock to be actuated by pullingupwardly upon the lifter; but if the trunnions cannot thus be restoredto the slot of the look so as to enable the lower end of the lifter tobewithdrawn from beneath the anti-creep shoulder of the coupler hea l,one or more of the elements of the mechanism must be cut or otherwisedestroyed before the parts can be separated. liforeover, where a wornlock lifter is associated with a coupler head having a short anti-creeplug the disconnection of the uncoupling rod or release rigging fromthe'lifter may result in accidentally allowing the lifter member to dropand pass wholly within the coupler head. Under such circumstances alsothe parts of the coupler cannot be separated without destroying one ormore of its elements. In addition to the ability of the lock lifter ofthe ED-coupler, as the result of wear due to service, to drop out ofplace by its own weight and assume an inoperative position, little or nowear of the parts is necessary to permitthe lifter to be accidentallydriven down to an 7 inoperative position as the result of some ings.

heavy object strikin upon its upper end.

In the drawings, 1 is the coupler head and 2 is the knuckle rotatablymounted thereon by means of the usual knuckle pin 3. The knuckle isnormally prevented from rotating to open position by a verticallysliding and rear "ardly swinging lock 1 having a depending leg 5 whichprojects downwardly through an opening 6 in the lower wall of thecoupler head. The lock 4, together with the knuckle opener 7 and thelock lifter 8, is brought to assembled posi- 'tion within the couplerhead by being introduced through the mouth 9 of said head. \Vhen theparts are in. locked relation the lock a is seated upon the horizontallyrotatable knuckle opening lever 7 of standard form, as illustrated inFig. 1 of the draw- The upward vertical movement of the lock elreleasesthe knuckle 2 so that it may perform an uncoupling rotation. Thesubsequent rearward swinging movement of the lock ca .see its. dependingleg 5. to press rearwardly against the knuckle opening lever 7, therebycausing the latter to perform its pivotal movement and throw the knuckleopen.

The lock e: is actuated by means of a lifter 8 which is slidablyanddetachably connected at its lower end to the lock 4- and whose upper endprojects through an aperture 10 in the top wall of the coupler head. Anopeningll in the upper end of the lifter affords means for attaching thelatter to a suitable uncoupling rod or release rigging in the well knownmanner.

The lock 1 is fashioned with an upwardly and rearwardly opening slot 12into which the lower end of the lifter 8 extends, said slot being formedwith a bottom wall comprising a plurality of faces 13 and 1a,respectively, which are angularly disposed with respect to each other,the face 13 having a downwardslope or inclination toward the rear faceof the lock 1. The lower end of the lifter is similarly provided with aplurality of faces 15 and 16, respectively, which are disposed at anangle to each other and are adapted to cooperate with the cor respondingfaces 13 and 1 1 of the slot 12. In addition to the features ofconstruction heretofore described the lower end of the lock lifter 8 isprovided with the customary laterally extending trunnions 17 whichproject into the slot 12 of the lock and thereby serve as means formovably and detachably connecting the lifter to the lock 1. The lifteris also formed with the usual upwardly facing shoulder 1S forcooperating'w'th the anti-creep shoulder or lug 19 upon the interior ofthe coupler head 1. hen the parts are in normal locked relation theupwardly facing shoulder 18 at the lower end of the lifter extendsbeneath the anti-creep lug 19, thus preventing the lock from executingan unlocking movement until an upward pull upon the lifter 8 has causedthe shoulder'18 to be withdrawn from beneath the anti-creep lug. Theinclined faces 13 and 15 cooperate to enable the lifter readily to slidedown the sloping face 13 so as to move to locked position under theinfluence of gravity. The engagement of the faces or shoulders 1 1 and16, respectively, arrests this gravity induced sliding movement of thelifter 8, limiting it to 'an extent precluding the trunnions 17 frompassing out of the slot 12 of the lock and thereby insuring that thelock 4 may at alltimes be operated by an upward pull upon the lifter.The engagement of the stop faces 14 and 16 serves not only to limit thenormalslidingmovement of the lock lifter S with respect to the lock 1,but also adequately prevents the lifter from being driven downwardlybelow its normal position as the result of accidental blows delivered toits upper end.

rearwardly swinging lock for said knuckle,

and a lock lifter for actuating said lock,

said lock being provided with an upwardly and rearwardly opening slotadapted to receive the lower end of said lifter, said lifter beingformed at its lower end with a plurality of faces disposed at an angleto each other and being provided with trunnions extending into said slotand movably and detachably connecting said lifter to said lock said slotbeing formed with a bottom wall comprising a plurality of facesangularly disposed with respect to each other and respectively adaptedto engage the said angularlydisposed faces of said lifter, one of saidfaces of said bottom wall being inclined downwardly toward the rear ofsaid lock, and one of said faces of said lifter being inclineddownwardly toward the rear of said lifter, said inclined faces beingadapted to cooperate to enable said lifter to slide down said inclinedface of said bottom wall under the influence of gravity, and the otherof said faces of said bottom wall and lifter being adapted to engageeach other to limit said sliding movement of said lifter with respect tosaid lock.

2. In a car coupler, the combination with a coupler head, of a knucklepivotally mounted thereon, an upwardly movable and rearwardly swinginglock for said knuckle, and a lock lifter for actuating said lock, saidlock being provided with an upwardly and rearwardly opening slot adaptedto receive the lower end of said lifter said lifter being movably anddetachably connected to said look by trunnions formed on said lifter andextending into said slot, said slot/being formed with abottom wall whichadjacent the rear end of said slot slopes downwardly to provide meanscooperating with the lower end of said lifter for cans-- ing said lifterto move to locked position under the influence of gravity, and saidlifter being provided forwardly of said trunnions with a shoulderadapted to engage said lock within the'slot therein to limit saidgravity induced movement of said lifter. a

In testimony whereof I affix my signa- WILLIAM KELSO.

. ture

